Zootopia

After he was done packing we went to pick up Gabbi from school and surprised them with a trip to the movies. We went and saw the new Zootopia movie. The commercials looked awesome, I was even excited to see it. 

The kids did a really good job, even William watch the majority of the movie. That one surprised me. But with popcorn and treats, a kid will do almost anything.

After the movie and dinner we took the kids to Mom and Dad's so they could spend the night. We had to get up early in order to take Ben to the airport.

The kids were sad to say goodbye, but all good things must come to an end.

Just like dad

The month went by really fast and it was time to say goodbye again.

Ben was getting ready to leave and while he was doing so, William came across his helmet and dress shoes. He did as he always does and put on his shoes. I couldn't help and leave it there. I handed him the helmet to see what he'd so with it. It was heavy so instantly he dropped it. He sat there, starred at it, and said "hat hat hat" over and over again. So Ben helped him put it on and he held it on long enough for me to capture the moment.

Like Father like Son!

Easter at Mom and Dad's

After Church Ben handed over his reigns to the new Elder's Quorum President. With me being put in as President, they released him. I felt really bad because he thought that he had done a bad job, but that really wasn't the case. When he was finally done I was set apart and then we headed to Mom and Dad's for dinner.

When we got there, we chatted for a little bit and then headed outside for the kids to have their Easter Egg hunt. After having two, no three egg hunts; they were pros by now.

They ran around like chickens collecting their eggs. They each got one giant egg and 12 regular sized eggs. I was surprised that it took them all so long, even the older kids.

After they were done they emptied out their eggs into their bags to see the wonders that they beheld. They each had a treat and some money in them; $ 5.00 total. The kids were more excited about the money then the candy. That drove me crazy. I gave them the look and they took it as a "oh yeah, we need to go say thank you."

After all the fun with the hunt we headed inside for Cameron's birthday dinner, which of course was pizza; every kids favorite meal. Then we finished the night with games, visiting, and presents for Cameron.

New calling

That day at Church, I was given a new calling. I was asked to be the new Primary President for our ward. I was very apprehensive and worried that they had made a huge mistake.

They formally asked me a few weeks ago and then gave me the daunting task of choosing counselors. I wasn't sure what exactly I was doing, but I did my best and gave them the names that came to my mind. I just hoped that they would be accepted by the bishopric and that they would except the calling. I was happily surprised that they both said yes and we were sustained Easter Sunday.

We have a lot of work ahead of us. I've heard good and bad about the last presidency, I just hope that we do what we can for all the children in the ward.

Easter pictures

After the lesson we all got cleaned up and ready for Church. Before heading out the door for Church we had to snap a few pictures of course. It took a little enticing, but they at least smiled for a few. 

William 2 years old

Owen 5 years old

Gabbi 7 years old

Easter lesson

After we were done making the deviled eggs, Ben called the kids over for a small Easter lesson. Sadly he got more frustrated with them then he wanted, but at least they listened for a little bit. He tried and that's all that mattered.

Easter egg hunt outside

As they were running off to go get ready for Church I remembered that they had one more Easter egg hunt. We told them that the Easter bunny had taken their eggs and hid them outside. They couldn't believe it and went and grabbed their buckets and headed outside.

They made a mad dash for the yard in search for their eggs. They took longer then I thought they would, but they were able to find each and every last one.

They searched high and low and filled their buckets with as much eggs they could find. Once they were done, they couldn't help but show me each of their buckets. I find it funny that they tried their hardest to find the eggs that they actually decorated. They didn't do too bad.

Afterward we went inside to make deviled eggs with all their beautifully colored eggs before it was time to get ready for Church. The kids were so surprised that some of the color dye had seeped through the egg shell. They loved the colored deviled eggs.

Easter morning

The next morning was Easter. The kids were happy to see that they had some surprises for Easter. The Easter bunny brought them some eggs to find and Ben and I had gotten them a traditional Easter outfit with a toy or too.

When they first came up the stairs they came across their buckets and went to town. They each had two colors to search for. Sadly it got a little confusing for William, so we let them pick up what they could find and we would sort out the rest later.

William had so much fun picking up the eggs. He tried to open them as he found them, but then would see another egg and moved on to it.

Owen and Gabbi are pros at Easter egg hunts and they did their best to show William the ropes. Sadly they got to the eggs faster then he could, but once he saw what we gave him waiting for him on the couch he didn't care much about the eggs anymore.

He was excited to find a few eggs by his stuff along with an outfit, an Easter book, train, and dinosaur toy kit. He was bright eyes and bushy tailed when he found out the the eyes lit up on the dinosaur and even roared like one. He picked it up and dragged it to Ben for him to open it.

Owen was just as excited as William. He got an Easter outfit, and Easter book, a new dragon, and airplane. He went straight for the dragon and begged for it to be opened. I told him that he had to get ready for Church first before he could open it up. He ran quickly to go get dressed in his new outfit.

Gabbi was happy to see the things that we gave her as well. I think she was more excited about the dress then the other items. That surprised me and made me really happy all at once. She also got an Easter book, and two new accessory items for her dolls (music kit and rain kit).

Puppy

Since we cut our trip early at Lagoon, we headed to Jana and Scott's for some dinner and some fun.

While we were there William tends to hang around me. He doesn't play for very long with the other kids. I'm not sure why, but he just doesn't. 

With this particular time he decided to take playing puppy to a whole new level. He loves to play puppy, but now he had a house to play in. He willingly crawled into the dog kennel himself and played in there for quite a long time.

I couldn't believe it. In and out he crawled, barking and panting. It was too cute.

Opening day at Lagoon

After finishing the eggs we had some lunch. To encourage the kids to eat quickly, we told the kids that we were going to go to Lagoon. It was opening day and we wanted to have one last hurrah before Ben left for class.

We loaded up in the van and hit the road. I find it quite funny that two of the three were asleep almost before we even hit the freeway. At least they would be well rested for our adventure.

I was grateful that the line wasn't as long as it was last year. We planned it perfectly. Wait till later in the afternoon and the hype of opening day would have passed. It only took us 10 or so minutes in line to get our passport pictures taken. Then we hit the rides.

It was cooler then we were expecting, but that didn't stop the kids. We put on our sweatshirts and headed straight for kiddie land. Ben went with Gabbi and stood in line for the ladybug bop while Owen, William, and I went to ride Bulge the Whale. We were really excited this year to have a pass for William, that way he could ride anything he wanted without being stopped.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, they finally got off the ride (ladybug bop). Opening day malfunctions. We then headed to the Red Rock Rally. Ben took William with him and Owen went by himself. He said he was big enough to go by himself.

We then walked over and waited inline for the Jumping Dragon. I wasn't sure if William could go on it or if he would even like it, but we hit the ride anyway. I rode with William and all the other kids split up in different seats. I was so surprised that William didn't freak out. He of course went red in the face, which didn't surprise me, but he had a smile on his face otherwise.

We then walked over to the Tipsey Teacups. Again the line took forever despite that it looked very short. Again its opening day hiccups. Once we got on the ride, the kids went crazy. They were having contests to see who could spin around the fastest. Sadly Owen, William, and I were in the one teacup not in the race. I wasn't about to get sick on our first trip to Lagoon.

Watching everyone else about made me so. I couldn't believe how fast they were spinning. The kids kept asking for more. I don't think it could have gone any faster.

We then headed to the other side of the park hoping to find a ride that didn't have a long line. There wasn't much success, every line was long, but they waited anyways. Ben and Gabbi got in line for the Flying Aces. Owen said he was done riding rides and William was too small, so we sat in the pavilion waiting for their ride to end. While we were waiting it started to snow. Not a lot, but it was still snowing.

After they were done, the older boys went and got in line for the Blast off and the rest of us headed for the kiddie bumper cars. That's the one ride that Owen really wanted to go on. This was Williams first time on the bumper cars and Gabbi was happy to help him out.

At first he had no idea what was going on, but was excited non the less.

As you can tell from the picture he had a grin from ear to ear on his face.

As we waited for their ride to end it continued to snow even more and started to turn into rain. We decided that it was time to call it quits. It didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. So we headed back to the van and headed for home.

It was a good first trip, a short one, but a good one. The kids were upset that we were leaving, but who wants to ride rides in the rain.

Coloring Easter eggs

After the Easter egg hunt we went home to get ready to color some eggs ourselves. We boiled the eggs and got out the egg dying kits and waited for dad to finish up some homework so we could get started. The kids waited patiently, well not so patiently, but they waited non the less.

Once we were finally ready we gave each of the kids their eggs and explained to them exactly what they could do. There was painting eggs, dying eggs with a shake-able bag, and the traditional liquid form. I got leak proof containers but the dye was taking forever and wasn't making them very dark at all, so they didn't use those. We added an egg to each cup and just left it there.

William, I decided was going to use the bag method. He could do that without making a mess on himself or the counter and still fund success coloring his eggs. We put an egg in the bag and then he picked his colors. We added some of the color gel and he shook like crazy. Once they were covered we took it out to dry and he moved on to the next egg.

Owen wasted no time at all to grab the paint rollers. He used them on each of his eggs. He loved being able to paint them. Sadly it was as clean coloring as the package let on. He managed to color his eggs, his hands, and the counter. Luckily it came off okay on everything but his skin. That took a few washes.

Gabbi on the other hand did both methods. She started out with painting eggs and then moved on to the gel shaking bags. She was very precise on her decorating and wanted them to look perfect. She did a pretty good job too.

The kids had so much fun coloring eggs and it didn't last as long as they had hoped. They each begged for more eggs to color, but sadly for them we were done. They sat at the counter watching them dry hoping that they would be done sooner then later. I finally convinced them that it would be a while and they went down to play.